Syria’s military intelligence officer assassinated: Report

A Syrian military intelligence officer has reportedly been assassinated in the west-central Hama Province, the second such killing in two weeks blamed on Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Reports said Ahmad Issa Habib, who was in charge of the Syrian army’s Palestine department, had been shot in the head in the village of Ba’arin.

There were contradictory reports on whether the unknown assailants had targeted the victim in his car or at his home.

Israel’s Army Radio quoted Syrian opposition sources as saying that Habib was “responsible for the struggle against Israel.”

Damascus is yet to comment on the assassination reports.

On April 4, Aziz Azbar, the head of the Syrian Scientific Research and Studies Center in the Hama city of Masyaf, was assassinated in a car bombing.

A senior official from a Middle Eastern intelligence agency told The New York Times  that Mossad had a hand in the targeted killing.

The official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said his agency had been informed of the operation, and that Mossad had been tracking Azbar for a long time.

Some reports said the killing of the scientist was part of Israel’s campaign of aggression aimed at preventing Syria from rehabilitating its defense capabilities when the crisis in the Arab country comes to an end.

Israel frequently attacks military targets inside Syria in an attempt to prop up terrorist groups that have been suffering defeats against Syrian government forces.

The regime has also been providing weapons to anti-Damascus militants as well as medical treatment to Takfiri elements wounded in Syria.